RiskFootprint, a provider of online, commercial property hazard assessments, has released Version 10 of its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution empowering commercial real estate (CRE) owners, operators, investors and lenders to make better risk management decisions.
The solution adds more than 20 new risk categories to its reports. In what it calls an industry first, RiskFootprint Version 10 assesses more than 35 separate natural hazards, climate change impacts and community resilience — the most of any SaaS hazard assessment on the market today. In addition to assessing all types of floods, wildfires, earthquakes, tornados, and extreme weather threats, the solution also includes: advanced, site-specific wind risks; future climate risks using United Nations climate models; 18 additional natural hazard scores from FEMA’s new National Risk Index (NRI) and two community resilience scores.
“Businesses with real assets in the United States have been challenged in recent years with rising frequency and impact of floods, natural hazards, extreme weather, and climate change,” said Leonard Berry, RiskFootprint co-founder and chief science officer. “Since 1980, the annual frequency of billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. from catastrophic flooding, western wildfires, and devastating tornado outbreaks has more than doubled. The need for true site intelligence has never been more critical.”
The assessment of physical climate risks has taken center stage in the areas of commercial, multifamily and industrial real estate, the company said, adding that there is a rapidly growing demand for technology and consulting that allows CRE to get a better handle on hazards and resilience for portfolio risk management, new acquisition due diligence, property management and loan and insurance underwriting. CRE stakeholders must increasingly evaluate and disclose current and future physical climate risks in regulatory and quasi-regulatory programs. These include, but are not limited to, the Task Force of Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and align assessments with existing environmental due diligence processes like the ASTM’s Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) and the Property Condition Assessment (PCA).
Others developing new hazard assessment standards and guidance include government and non-profit organizations such as: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Environmental Bankers Association, U.S. Green Building Council and the International Finance Corporation. These initiatives will both clarify stakeholder expectations and cause rapid expansion of the online hazard assessment market.
“As commercial, industrial, and multi-family real estate market growth accelerates post-COVID, our top-tier CRE clients are demanding ever-increasing breadth, depth, and accuracy from real property hazard assessments to meet their due diligence needs,” RiskFootprint President Albert Slap said. “We deliver intelligence that is a true warning about the reality of the risks associated with a site.”
